I think it’s more than that.
Taiwanese are just passive, “gotta change for the environment, don’t change the environment” type of fatalistic bullcrap. It gets old very quick. Then you got bosses paying peanuts, and that labor laws here are just decoration, if you try to stand up for your rights the law demands, you get screwed.
Sure China has 996 but I read (I have no personal experience) that anyone working 996 in China is raking in money. As in they do it willingly because they get paid well. Also I hear in China the government takes labor law seriously. Stuff like paid overtime, legally mandated leaves (of which I am sure China is still lacking compared to Taiwan) are strictly enforced. I mean if I got paid say 10,000 yuan a month working 40hrs a week (and this is a lot of money by the way), but I could make triple that amount working 996, I’d volunteer too!